ESCAPE ROOM

For some reason, Sammy and Emmie and I were talking about Escape Rooms last night over a cup of tea and cheese and crackers.

Have you heard of this? It's a new craze: you pay someone to lock you and your friends in a room and then you all have to figure a way out of it.

"I'd just ask them where the emergency exit is," said Emmie matter-of-factly, "And then I'd push the button."

It's hard to fault her logic. It made me chuckle. I'm exactly the kind of person to get stuck into finding clues, figuring out puzzles and solving riddles; Emmie is brilliantly practical. I imagined myself scrabbling around in the dark for a key, or a piece of jigsaw puzzle, while she flung open the fire door in a blaze of glorious sunlight.

Megan and Adam have done them. They really enjoyed the Escape Room.

"You should do one for your birthday!" said Megan some time ago. I said it sounded a bit stressful, but mostly because all the people I can think of inviting would probably find it annoying rather than fun - and I have more friends than you can lock into a small room anyway.

I think the appeal is that you get to pit your wits against a system that's gently trying to outwit you. When you emerge into daylight, you can say it was all worth it because now you know that you're clever enough to figure out how to solve the puzzle, work hard and eventually escape from that claustrophobic little box.

I'd like to argue at this point that I do, in fact, still work in an office.